Are you the parent of a child with a
disability? Are you the parent of a child who is not being taught to
read? Are you battling with your child's school about appropriate special
education services for your child?

Are you a teacher of children with disabilities?
Are you a special ed teacher who does not have the professional support
you need to do your job? Are you a student teacher who is not getting
the training you need?

Are you an attorney or advocate who represents
a child with a disability?

Are you a professor of special education
who wants to improve education programs for teachers? Are you an administrator
who needs to educate your school board about special education costs?

Are you a legislator who wants to improve
special education outcomes? Are you a special Ed consumer or provider
who is concerned about the reauthorization of the special Ed law?

Download NY Times
Article About Shannon Carter & Special Ed

If you want to educate others about special
education issues, download this powerful article by Brent Staples of
The New York Times. In "How Clip 'N Snip's Owner Changed Special
Education," Mr. Staples tackles many problems that plague special
education -- including the failure to use scientifically proven methods
to teach children to read.

IMPORTANT! Before you can download articles
from The New York Times site, you must register and get a password!

We are making this article and supporting
info available on the Wrightslaw site (link follows). However -- you
should get the original New York Times article -- the NY Times has far
more persuasive clout than Wrightslaw!

Quotes From Article
By Brent Staples

"The people of Florence, SC know
Shannon Carter as the owner of Shannon's Clip 'N Snip, a barber shop
where the locals get haircuts and conversation . . ."

"Shannon's public school teachers
are no doubt surprised to see her running a business and working out
a financial plan. During the 1980's she finished ninth grade failing
virtually every subject, and was nearly illiterate."

"The schools told Emory and Elaine
Carter that their daughter was terminally lazy and would 'never see
a day of college'. In truth, Shannon was suffering from a common but
undiagnosed learning disability that made it difficult for her to comprehend
the little that she could read. Alienated and depressed, Shannon became
suicidal."

"Ask about Shannon Carter in New
York or Los Angeles, and you see school board lawyers snarling or hanging
their heads in dismay . . . But as Congress prepares to reauthorize
the federal special education program, it should bear in mind that the
Carters went to court only after the public schools failed at their
most basic mission: teaching Shannon to read."

"The task of teaching reading is
undermined by the common but mistaken belief that children are somehow
neurologically "wired" to read. This view led to the "whole
language" fad of the 1970's . . . data from four decades of studies
by the National Institutes of Health show that it is disastrous for
the 4 in 10 children who have trouble learning to read. Nearly half
these youngsters fall behind in the early grades, never catch up and
eventually drop out."

"The fortunate children are diagnosed early and assigned to smaller
classes where teachers take special care to teach them the fundamentals
of written language that others take for granted. The children are walked
through the alphabet again and again, learning to connect the letters
to the sounds, the sounds to the syllables, the syllables to words and
so on."

"The good news from the N.I.H. findings
is that 95 percent of learning-impaired children can become effective
readers if taught by scientifically proven methods. The bad news is
that less than a quarter of American teachers know how to teach reading
to children who do not get it automatically. At the moment, nearly half
of all children placed in special education are there for reading difficulties.
Federal scientists commonly describe them as 'casualties of bad instruction'."

"Congress has focused almost solely
on the fact that special education is expensive - and that it takes
away money from regular education. The debate will go nowhere until
lawmakers begin to view special and regular education as part of a single
system that is being hampered by an all too pervasive problem - that
schools are teaching reading in a way that fails to effectively reach
millions of children."

"The basic lesson of the Carter
case and the tens of thousands that have followed is that the country
needs a national reading campaign, based on science. The longer we delay,
the more families like Shannon Carter's will bolt the system, taking
public dollars with them."

To read the New York Times article by
Brent Staples, decisions and articles about Shannon Carter's case, info
about reading research, and to download Free Pubs about reading and
special education, please go to --

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